Football Tasmania chief executive Matt Bulkeley says a successful bid to bring the Women's World Cup to Launceston could change the face of soccer in the state.
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Bulkeley joined forces with members of government, City of Launceston and Events Tasmania at UTAS Stadium on Tuesday evening to make a video presentation to FIFA representatives.
The next stage of the process will see FIFA visit Launceston in early February to inspect stadiums, accommodation and training sites before the final decision on host sites for the 2023 tournament is made.
"As we'll tell FIFA, this is an opportunity for a game-changing moment for football in this state in the sense of giving a real impetus to the women's game in particular," Bulkeley said.
"We know after every World Cup - male and female - we see a spike of participation, so we know that's probably 10-fold when it's on our doorstep so the opportunity is massive."
Launceston has history for turning up en masse to watch world cup sport, with more than 15,000 attending a clash between rugby minnows Romania and Namibia at York Park in 2003.
"We think that Launceston and Tasmania have some really unique advantages that many of the other parts of Australia and New Zealand may not have," Bulkeley said.
"I think we can genuinely say that we're a state bid in that everyone in Tasmania can actually access our games.
"Once you're here in Launceston you can walk to the game - not be sitting in traffic, not be stuck on public transport - just the unique atmosphere that we'll be able to bring to the event and the legacy benefit we stand to get is exponential."
City of Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten said hosting World Cup games would easily be among the region's biggest sporting events of his 13-year tenure.
"It'd be absolutely amazing if that could be achieved and we're working very hard to make sure we can achieve it," van Zetten said.
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